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Warriors ready to take big stage
West Branch faces Toledo Rogers
BELOIT
No stage has been too big for the West Branch High School girls basketball team so far this season.
That will be tested this afternoon at the 19,500-seat Value City Arena in Columbus, site of the OHSAA state basketball championships.
The Warriors (27-1, AP No. 5) face Toledo Rogers (23-5, AP No. 10) in the second Division II semifinal at 3 p.m., following state No. 1 Kettering Archbishop Alter vs. Millersburg West Holmes.
While the Ohio State University arena is a bit larger than the gymnasium inside West Branch high school, Warriors head coach Walt DeShields has been reminding his team that the court is still 94 feet long.
“You see that movie ‘Hoosiers’, which we’ll watch on the way down, it’s still a 10-foot basket, still 15 feet from the foul line, the whole thing,” DeShields said.
“It’s the same size as our gym at home.”
The team wrapped up its 76th practice of the season on Wednesday before they headed off to Columbus two days early to get comfortable. DeShields said that’s the most practices he’s every held in a single season and the plan was to have one more Thursday.
On Tuesday, the team practiced at Kent State University to get the big-arena feel. DeShields wanted his girls to get comfortable shooting at stationary hoops, as opposed to the hoops they’re used to that hang from the ceiling in high school gymnasiums.
“It was really good for our girls to see that and we had a really great practice,” he said. “I think just getting away from the distractions around here a little bit and everybody wanting a piece of you.
“It was nice to get away for just a night as a team — nobody in the gym but us — and really start to focus on our gameplan.”
That gameplan starts and ends with combating the Rams’ size down low. Their starting front court features three girls 6-foot-2 or taller. That’s something this West Branch team has had to deal with against other opponents this season.
According to senior Pavin Heath, one way they prepare for it is by bringing in taller boys to practice against.
“They’re strong and they help us out a lot with that,” Heath said. “We did that for Chagrin [Falls] and we did that again this week.
“It really preps us and lets us know how it’s gonna be. Plus, they’re a lot stronger than the girls will be.”
That formula resulted in a win over 6-foot-5 Hallie Thome, who was named Ms. Basketball on Wednesday, and Chagrin Falls in the regional semifinal. The Warriors used a relentless double team with Erica Johnson and Lea Bock to limit Thome to 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“Our team’s looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity,” DeShields said.
As far as the moment and stage being too big for the Warriors, Heath isn’t worried. They’re going to treat it like it’s any other game day — just with slightly larger implications.
“Definitely Barberton was huge and an even bigger atmosphere this year than it was last year,” Heath said. “Even though it’s a huge arena, I think the nerves will calm down pretty quickly and we’ll play like we usually do.”